New Blog--UPDATE

UPDATE:  The new address is www.jeffersonparkhub.com.
Come see the new blog as features get added to it.

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Sorry for the short notice. The blog will reappear, hopefully, by Wednesday.
Technical upgrade.
See you on the other side.

-Andrew

The Taste of East Point brings out all the foodies.

If you are in town, come downtown Saturday. Bring your wallet and an empty belly for the Taste of East Point. Part food fest and art show, it'll be an opportunity for foodies to try out new places.

Taste of East Point... and the Tri-Cities Area East Point ~ Hapeville ~ College Park

MUSIC --- FOOD --- ART
"Ticket a Taste"
$1 Tickets ($5 minimum)

Tickets are available for purchase at the event. Beer and wine sales benefit East Point Main Street Association.  

Saturday, May 1.
Time: 4-9 PM – Block of West Cleveland Ave. (Across from City Hall)

EPMSA is bringing back and adding a twist to an East Point favorite, the "Taste of East Point". The "Taste of East Point" is an event that will give attendees a taste of the food, art and music of East Point.

Local East Point restaurants will be giving out samples of their cuisine, local artists will be displaying and selling their work and local musicians will be performing during the event.

The event will be held downtown, on West Cleveland Ave from 4-9pm.

Wrist bands will be sold to sample the various types of food all day long (Wrist bands are $10 for adults and $5 for children(12 and under). Beverages, including wine and beer, will be sold to attendees by EPMSA as a fundraiser.

For more information: The East Point Main Street Association.

New Feature

A new community forum is available at The Jefferson Park Hub. 

Across the new top of the blog is a link to this new feature, called "What's on your mind." Using the sign in from either Facebook or other social media sites, a community of people can chat, post questions, offer helpful answers. 

I've started one question about the upcoming Taste of the Tri-Cities. Add your two cents.

High school happenings

Looking for something new, different tonight, wander to the Tri-Cities High School on Harris Street.

Tonight is the International Taste Festival: A TCHS Extravaganza. 

It runs from 6 to 8 p.m.

Happy Earth Day

The first Earth Day celebration in 1970 started the modern environmental movement, according to Wikipedia.

It's been said that spring is when the South shows off.  True.  Here are a few nature photos taken around the Jefferson Park neighborhood. If you have any favorites of your own, please email them here so they can be added.

Hug a tree today.  Or pick up litter.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Fort McPherson's time is winding down

The East Point Examined blog has the latest information about what is happening down the street at the to-be-closed historic Army base. Check it out here.

EAST POINT, GA - With the closing of Ft. McPherson just around the corner (2011!), Jack Sprott of the McPherson Local Redevelopment Authority gave a presentation of what's planned for the 488-acre base. There have been a round of public meetings with input from those residents in attendance. These meetings resulted in a few beneficial changes for East Point residences. Fifty feet were added to the setback along the northern Colonial Hills (Ward B) border. The proposed residential zoning near the Villages of East Point was scrapped and replaced with green space. Check out their website for more information

The blog has video of a presentation also. 

EATS: Bolo

Friends call eating on Buford Highway "adventure dining" with the variety of unusual ethnic eateries. There's a little adventure dining in a worn shopping center on College Park's Virginia Avenue.

Bole restaurant serves Ethiopian fare at modest prices in a well kept dining room. Yellow walls brighten the eating area with tables covered in red-white checkered table clothes. Pictures depicting Ethiopian scenes hang on the walls. Here's one.



We ordered two dishes: the vegetable combination at the suggestion of the friendly host and chicken and rice.

Veggie combo ($7.99) comes with misir (lentils), gomen (collard green) and two other types of vegetarian dishes.  It came arranged on a platter lined with injera, a spongy flat bread. A side dish included more injera used to scoop up the food. Not only was it tasty, but fun to eat with your fingers.




The rice dish ($6.99) was well received. The rice had a slight curry flavor mixed with onions and garlic.

Overall, Bole it's a place you'd return to if you like adventure dining off the beaten path.

Neighborhood April meeting

This month's neighborhood meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, April 20th at 7 p.m. at the Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church's fellowship hall. 

JPNA president Dustin Miles said the special speaker will be Steve Rothman. He will talk about  Spring Metal that has an zoning application filed with the city for its property at 2323 Sylvan Rd. 

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PS: Looking for a willing citizen journalists who can report on the meeting. Be in touch if you'd like to tell the community about what happened.  A how-to guide can be provided. 

Creative Loafing looks at East Point

For those who yearn for a slower pace and a small-town vibe — while staying ITP and a stone’s throw from Concourse E — this trio of southside cities is your best bet.

That's how Creative Loafing, the alternative weekly looked at the Tri-Cities in the late March edition.

 Check it out here.

At City Hall: Zoning & Planning Division

How neighborhoods should develop, where businesses can locate, what the community looks like are all tasks of the Zoning and Planning Division.

The division is one that impacts people's quality of life. 

Here's what the website says:

The Planning & Zoning Division reviews plans for new development for compliance with the zoning ordinance, provides applications for variances, rezoning and special use permits, provides information on the current zoning of property and reviews completed applications submitted through the Plan Review Process for consideration by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council.


This division also conducts land use studies, develops future land use plans, prepares demographic information, utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to prepare thematic maps, creates open space plans, drafts development ordinances and performs other planning duties as needed.

Goals for Planning & Zoning’s FY10 budget... • Provides for business licensing, permit, inspection, and planning and zoning services
• Provides funding for a land use development/redevelopment plan
• Develops a Green Permit Program
• Provides funding to research/implement more efficient document and plan storage methods
• Provides funding for staff Arborist certification and other training needs
• Funds Mural Arts Program for the City

The division is located at  1526 East Forrest Avenue, Suite 100. It's  phone number is  (404) 270.7030. And the office is open from 8 AM to  5  PM, Monday to Friday. 

EP Corner Tav asks about more restrictive smoking

The crew at the East Point Corner Tavern is asking its friends on Facebook about its smoking policy.

The question is whether the local fav should be smoke free until 9 p.m. (I believe its smoke-free until 6 now.)  Go vote. Here.

Add your two cents to the issue. For more info about smoking bans, check out Wikipedia.

Be counted

From the US Census:

The U.S. Census Bureau is emphasizing the Friday, April 16, mail deadline because forms put in the mail by tomorrow will likely be received and processed in time to delete those households from the list of addresses it will visit starting May 1. Households that normally pick up their mail from a post office box are already slated for follow-up in May from census workers.

Upcoming road race

Be a part of history. Support the new The Main Street Academy, the local charter school opening in the fall, and make it a success.

The flyer for the TMSA's May 1 fun run was spotted on the racks at Phidippides Atlanta Running Shoe Store in Atlanta. (That's it with the red Run/Walk.)

To register, check out the web site here.

Health Fair

East Point firefighters are hosting a health fair Saturday, April 17

It'll be the fifth annual event that brings together the community and the emergency workers. It takes places at Fire Station No. 1, at 2757 East Point St.

This year’s health fair will focus on childhood obesity, which is a health problem that can cause a lifetime of poor health.  The health fair will have information about prevention, early detection and educational information for children.

The fair opens at 11 and wraps up at 3.

The firefighters have a strong advocate on this issue. First Lady Michelle Obama has embraced lowering obesity.  She started the Let's Move program. Go here to see resources to fight this problem.

Friendly cat, whose is it?

This email was circulated Wednesday night: 

 It's David and Adam over on Jefferson Terrace. Feral cats are nothing new to the neighborhood but in the last week, a very sweet female cat has been hanging around our yard. She is extremely friendly and has obviously been with people as she will come right up to us and even allow herself to be picked up and held. She's sweet and "talkative" , another indication of her being socialized...I can barely imaging anyone wanting to get rid of a sweet animal like this but cats rarely if ever get lost...Stranger things have happened though, so I wanted to ask if you would post her picture on an e-blast...She isn't at our place 24/7 but usually makes an appearance at least once a day in the late afternoon. We can't take on another cat because our female is *extremely* jealous of other cats and is having fits over this one from inside the screened porch. It's too bad because this girl would make a cat person a wonderful pet. Oh yes, she is a little thin but not starving...I would day that she is no older than 2 years old maximum.

Thank You!

David Hicks

Eats: La Fiesta

I was in a TGIF mood with margarita’s on the brain last week.

With a foursome in tow, we headed to La Fiesta restaurant at 1419 Virginia Ave., College Park. It has comfort-food Mexican. It serves nothing fancy but reasonably priced and decent food.

The restaurant’s interior is filled with tables and booths. The restaurant’s patio was buzzing with diners on this warm night. There isn’t a view to recommend it, unless you like watching the traffic on nearby Virginia. Colorful walls of red and blue enliven the interior, as did the karaoke entertainment that started around 9.

Warm chips and salsa appeared on the table soon after we filled a booth. The salsa had a nice spicy zing to it, not just flavorless tomato salsa. A large order of queso, the flavored melted cheese, soon appeared.  

Soon after came the margaritas in big beer steins. No complaints. As I said, this isn’t the place that experiments with food and drink. It delivers the standard-issue tequila-based cocktail. Others had a Diet Coke and a beer.

 

 The wait staff didn’t keep us waiting to take our dinner requests. 

Entrees orders were soon made and delivered. The chicken fajitas ($10.99) made about three servings of chicken and grilled onions wrapped in soft tortillas. The side of black beans was sparse, not much to them.

Another order included a mix of classic Mexican food, and included a chile relleno - stuffed pepper – was met with approval. Others ordered the fajita quesadilla and beef enchiladas, above.

The total for the meal for the four of us, including a couple rounds of drinks, came to about $100. 

If you like your Mexican food unspoiled by originality or a creative cook, stop by here. La Fiesta's web site is here.

Real Estate Report

2454 East Woodland Circle

$170,000 

Dec. 30, 2009

Information from the Fulton County Board of Assessors web site.

The Main Street Academy - Event

Email from the organizers of  The Main Street Academy

Oz Pizza Fundraiser Night

Join The Main Street Academy tonight, 4/12/10, from 5-9pm at Oz Pizza. Tell the cashier you are with TMSA and a portion of your total bill will be donated back to the school. Dine-in and take-out apply.

Come out and meet your friends and neighbors who also support TMSA. Several Founding Committee and School Board members will be on hand to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you for your continued support of TMSA!

Oz Pizza

2805 Main Street

East Point, GA 30344

404.761.7006

East Point's Spring Fling 2010

 In downtown East Point on Saturday, April 10, scores of people came out to enjoy a beautiful day and take advantage of the first Spring Fling, a community party to promote creative ways to reduce the amount of garbage thrown in the trash. 

  

Repaired Marker

The marker is now upright at the intersection Oakleigh and Randall streets.
A tractor-trailer was suspected of knocking it down a few months ago.

Spring Fling

• Saturday, at 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.
• It takes place at the East Point Common

Downtown East Point will be buzzing with activity Saturday with the first "Spring Clean Fling."

Part "green" festival and part "swap meet," the day's activities are sure to attract a lot of people. 

It can also be a fundraiser for neighborhood groups selling brownie's, cake, muffins, cookies.  

Here are some of the activities:

• Councilman Lance Rhodes and Republic Services are inviting the community to bring any unwanted paper documents they want destroyed out to the event. There will be a mobile shredding truck ready to collect, shred and recycle the documents on site from 9am-2pm.
• Displays/Booths about what can be recycled at the collection center on Norman Berry
• Displays/Booths about where larger items can be recycled in East Point
• Booths with information about various “green” ideas and programs or informaion about how to donate items all year long.
• Representatives from groups like the Salvation Army, Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, Kamileon’s Kloset and more will be invited to come out and accept donations on the day of the event.
• Representatives from American Kidney Services will be there to accept donations and issue tax receipts!
• Hand out "blue recycle bins" to EP residents
• Have a truck for electronics recycling on site
• Fun "green" activities for kids that do not require electricity/other resources like: face painting, ball toss games, etc.

For more information, go to the East Point Main Street Association web site.

Small fire Wednesday causes ammonia leak at Oakley Drive industrial plant

Workers at an industrial plant near the Jefferson Park neighborhood capped an ammonia leak after a small fire.

There were no reported injuries at the Wednesday incident after firefighters decontaminated two workers. 

Details from City Council member Lance Rhodes:

Ammonia Leak

On 4 /07/10 at 6:06 PM, East Point Fire Department responded to 1239 Oakley Drive (known as Kroger storage facility). The call was dispatched as a fire alarm. The initial fire engine arrived on the scene at 6:11 PM. There were no signs of a fire. The Fire Department was advised of about forty employees who had evacuated the facility. The facility supervisor stated the water sprinkle system had been set off by a small fire.

The fire was extinguished by the water sprinkle system in the room of origin. The fire damage was minor in nature. An ammonia leak developed as a result of the fire. The leak was immediately contained by "capping" off the mechanism that was damaged. Facility employees trained in hazardous material response were responsible for controlling the leak prior to the arrival of emergency response units.

The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department Hazardous Material Team was called to assist with the mitigation of the ammonia leak and to decontaminate as necessary. The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department performed decontamination on the two facility employees.

There were no injuries sustained to employees of the facility, The City of Atlanta Fire Rescue nor the East Point Fire Department.
The cause of the incident is under investigation

East Point hopes for 50K people with census

That census form still sitting around?  Here's why it's important to important to mail it back according to the AJC:

At last count in 2008, the city fell just 6,582 people short of becoming what’s known as an entitlement city.

To reach that 50,000 population threshold, it will have to count traditionally missed folks like Porter and Robinson, as well as those still on the streets, immigrants and the working poor without stable addresses.

It’s a multimillion-dollar proposition. If East Point succeeds, a chunk of the $14 billion that Georgia receives from federal agencies each year will go directly to the cash-strapped city, to help pay for crumbling streets and buildings.

Read more from the AJC here.

How high can the pollen count go?

Neighborhood blogger David Baugher takes a look at the soaring pollen count.

The pollen count this morning in Atlanta was 5,733!!!  The extremely high category starts at 120.  We are 47 times above extremely high.  

Read more about pollen and allergies at his blog, David's World.

(If anyone has a picture of a pollen-covered car, cat, dog, whatever, please forward to The JP Hub.)

Advertisments on the driveway, litter on the streets?

Plastic bags full of advertisements have been spotted on driveways here. Some may see it as a way to get shopping deals while others view it as litter.

An organization called Stop AJC Reach is protesting the advertising circulars. 

"StopAJCReach.org is a community organization website with the goal of stopping driveway, yard and street delivery of AJC Reach advertising circulars that are littering our neighborhoods. "

If you are interested in this issue, you can go to its Web site and let your voice be here. 

City council wrestles with how to handle overdue water bills.

From the ACJ: 

East Point leaders are working to get a handle on a billing practice that, at last count, showed residents owed more than $400,000 for electric service.

That tally has likely gone down since it was revealed late last year, largely because electric use dips in the colder months.

But because the city is still using the budget billing system that created the problem, the money owed could start adding up again if officials don’t get a handle on the issue – and soon.

For more, go here. 

To summarize the problem, the issue for the city is how to collect past due water bills or whether to forgive all or a portion of the money owed.  The average overdue bill is $250.

Counting heads in East Point

April 1 was the day when everyone in the country was to be counted as part of the constitutionally mandated census.

Jefferson Park neighborhood lagged behind both the state and national participation rate. 
Some 49 percent of residents here returned the 10-question form.  That is less than the state and national participation, 52 and 56 percent, respectively. The city of East Point has a return rate of 42 percent. 

No doubt expect to see census counters walking the neighborhood from April to July when works knock on doors of homes that didn't return the questionnaire. 

Easter Message 2010

The Jefferson Park Hub  invited pastors from two neighborhood churches to offer a reflection on Easter 2010.  Their thoughts are below. 

First is pastor LK Pendleton of the Redemption Community Church, A United Methodist Congregation. The church is located at the intersection of Winburn Drive and Jefferson Avenue.

The second meditation is from pastor Darwin A. Caldwell of  Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church

"He Will Come Through”
John 2:19-22

Have you ever been discouraged, disillusioned or disappointed by hopes dashed and dreams deferred? 

We fall into the misconceptions that we must always strive to reach that elusive “next level” in life. What we long for in our circumstances, our relationships or even spiritually always seems just beyond our reach. 

After Jesus was crucified it was beyond the disciple’s reach that He would be raised from the dead on the third day just like He said that he would. (John 2:19) After Jesus died on the cross, the possibility of deliverance for a people experiencing oppression died too. Discouragement overwhelmed them because the hope of Israel as they viewed him through a human lens was gone. All of the people who supported Jesus ran away after he succumbed to death on the cross except for Joseph and Nicodemus, whose names mean Honorable Counselor and Victorious among his People. At night, they went to claim the body of Jesus from Pilate. 

When they went to claim the body of Jesus, the Bible says they bought a mixture of myrrh and aloes. They used about 70 pounds; 50 pounds over the recommended daily dressing to embalm the body so when people walked by the tomb they would only notice the beautiful smell of the myrrh and not the rotting flesh of a dead God. 

It was humanly inconceivable for them to believe that the one who interrupted a funeral procession and raised a dead girl to life and the one who called a dead man (Lazarus) out of his tomb was dead! And, they were unaware that in a few days, God would defy human logic and the laws of nature by breathing life into the impervious, lifeless body of Jesus Christ and resurrect Him from the dead.

Like many of us, we prematurely abandon our hopes and dreams when we don’t see the results of our hard work or things just didn’t materialize the way we desired. Easter reminds us that no matter how lugubrious things might seem, that we are Easter people living in a Good Friday World. Stuff happens! because life is lived on levels and experienced in stages and established on dimensions and everything will not proceed as planned. Yet, we have a God who specializes in breathing new life into dead things. 

As we prepare to celebrate Easter 2010, let the lyrics of this old gospel song inspire you to keep striving for purpose in your life knowing Jesus will sustain you in your journey! 

Time is filled with swift transition, Naught of earth unmoved can stand. Build your hopes on things eternal, Hold to God's unchanging hand. 

LK Pendleton is the Senior Pastor of the Redemption Community Church, A United Methodist Congregation, East Point, Georgia and an ordained elder in the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

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Have you lost hope? Easter 2010 finds many changes in our world especially in the United States of America. Our congress has just passed a Health Reform Bill and President Obama has signed it into law. It seems that none of us know what the bill will really accomplish and the unknown opens the door for fear to overcome us.

Unemployment is still over 9 per cent with rumors that it may still go higher. Those without jobs live anxious and frustrating moments as they look for work that will support their families.

And there are many other issues facing us that when we try to work through them in our own strength and fail causes us to lose hope and become depressed. 

The whole message of Easter is that God has a plan for each of our lives and He wants to work that plan for our good. He gave His only Son to live a rejected, persecuted, but sinless life here on this earth and die the most excruciatingly painful death to pay for all our sins so that we could keep hope in all circumstances. 

Since we have read the last chapter (of the Bible) and know that God always overcomes evil and wins the battle it helps to remember that He is still in control today. Nothing slips up on God and He is capable and willing to work through anything that comes upon us and give us a victorious end. He not only gives us hope He brings that hope to completion.

Our prayer for you to know God’s very best blessings!

Darwin A. Caldwell, pastor, Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church

Downtown Newsletter

Get the latest and the greatest about happenings downtown here.

Downtown East Point Newsletter April 2010

Brookdale Park construction

Brookdale Park construction
Originally uploaded by Jefferson Park Hub

Work continues at the renovation of Brookdale Park, on Sylvan Road. Workers are installing tennis courts and a basketball court. 

Easter Worship Services

Members of the Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church and the Redemption Community Church will celebrate Easter with special services. The community is invited to attend.

Here are schedules provided by the churches:

Jefferson Avenue Baptist Church,

• Thursday, April 1, we offer a Maundy Thursday service entitled, "Tenebrae, a Service of Shadows," at 7 p.m.
• Saturday, April 3 - 12-2 p.m., we invite everyone to bring blooms from their yard to decorate the Community Cross.
• Sunday, April 4 - 7:00 a.m. Sunrise Service on front steps.
• Sunday, April 4 - 10:30 a.m. - Easter Celebration Service

 Redemption Community Church

• Good Friday Service, Friday, April 2nd @ 7 p.m 
• Sunday Morning Worship, April 4th @ 10 a.m.
• Easter Program - Immediately Following Worship Service

Map:

View Churches in a larger map